Apples

Book Ideas:

Ten Red Apples, by Pat Hutchins
"In rhyming verses, one animal after another neighs, moos, oinks, quacks and makes other appropriate sounds as each eats an apple from the farmer's tree. Will there be any left for the farmer and his wife?"


Apples, Apples, Apples by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace

"On a day perfect for apple picking, the bunny family heads to Long Hill Orchard. Mr. Miller takes them to the trees on his wobbly farm wagon and tells them all sorts of fun facts about fall's favorite fruit."


Ten Apples up on Top by Dr. Seuss
"This typical Dr. Seuss story has three animals all competing with each other to see who can balance the most apples on his head. In addition to the amusing actions, kids also learn to count from 1 to 10."


Johnny Appleseed by Patricia Brennan Demuth
"Recounts the story of the man who traveled west planting apple seeds to make the country a better place to live."




Songs and Rhymes

APPLE TREE

Way up high in the apple tree (stretch arm up high)
Two red apples smiled at me (hold up 2 fingers)
I shook that tree as hard as I could (make a shaking motion)
Down came the apples, (make a downward motion)
Mmmm--were they good! (smile and rub stomach)


Five little Apples
Sung to "Five Little Monkeys"

Five little apples swinging in a tree
I sure wish one would fall to me
One fell down
And hit the ground
Now how many apples do you see?

Apples
(sung to tune of "Are you Sleeping?")

Picking apples
picking apples
one by one
one by one
Put them in a basket
Put them in a basket
Oh what fun! Oh what fun!

Apples, Apples
(Tune: "Twinkle, Twinkle")

Apples juicy, apples round,
On the tree or on the ground.
Apples yellow, apples red,
Apple pie and juice and bread!
Apples crunchy, apples sweet, Apples are so good to eat!

Apple
(sung to tune of Bingo was his name-o)

I know a food that's good to eat
and apple is it's name-o
A -P -P- L -E
A- P- P- L- E
A -P- P- L- E
and apple is it's name-o!



Apples falling down
(Sung to the tune of London Bridge)
Stand holding arms above your head like branches. Move arms up and down. Encourage children to wiggle their fingers as they move.


See the apples falling down
Falling down, falling down,
See the apples falling down,
Down to the ground.

(Children squat and pretend to pick up the apples, throwing them into the air.)

Pick the apples, throw them up,
Throw them up, throw them up.
Pick the apples throw them up
Way up high!


Activity Ideas:

Idea #1: Apple cooking
Read one of the book titles and talk about all the different kinds of food you can make out of apples. Then work together to prepare one of your favorite apple recipes. (Make sure to save the cores of any apples you use in your recipes for the seed counting activity or the stamping activity mentioned below). We made some caramel apples one night and decorated them with sprinkles and mini M&Ms. Some other yummy ideas are Apple Pie, Apple Crisp or Homemade Applesauce. Here is the recipe for one of our family favorites:
Apple Bread/Muffins
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp b.soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups grated apple (skinned and cored first)

Cream together the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla (mixing in the eggs one at a time). In separate bowl mix all dry ingredients together. Alternate adding dry ingredients and grated apples to the creamed mixture, until all ingredients are mixed in well. For bread loaf, bake at 325 for about an hour. For muffins 350 for 20-30 minutes or so, checking for doneness with a toothpick.



Idea#2: Apple Seed Counting



Before you start this activity you need to make a recording sheet, like the one in the photo, either by drawing 4-6 apple shapes on a paper, or by using clip art. If you want my handout just email me and I can email you back with my Word Document attached to the email, so that all you have to do is print it off. (My email is amykrodriguez@netzero.net). You will also need 4-6 apple cores.

Remove and count the seeds from one apple core. After counting the seeds, glue them into the center of one of the apples on your recording sheet. If your child is old enough, have them write the number next to the apple. Continue counting and gluing seeds from each apple core until you have recorded them all. (Seeds in an apple will range from 4-10 seeds). Ask your child which one has the most seeds and have them circle that apple.

***This photo is my five-year old's paper. My two year old was still fully capable of doing this activity, although I only had her count and record three apple's seeds. We counted out the seeds together and I wrote the number next to the apple and she had fun gluing the seeds on.

Idea #3: Apple Stamping

For this activity you will need to cut one apple in half vertically (shown above) and one apple horizontally, cutting the core in half (as shown below).

Dip the apples in paint and stamp them on construction paper. The trick to this activity is cutting the apples with a straight and flat edge and then pressing and wiggling the apple slightly as you stamp it. My two year old had fun stamping away and didn't care what the shapes turned out like; whereas, my older daughter was getting frustrated that the star or flower wasn't working right. The star stamp is a lot harder to get to work than the apple shaped stamp. You may have to have a few spare apples handy to re cut and get a better working stamp.

Idea #4: Painting Apple Trees All you need for this activity is some green and brown tempera paint (I mixed colors to get my brown), a piece of construction paper, a paint brush, and some red gift wrap tissue paper. For a younger child, printing off a tree outline on the construction paper might be helpful to give them some guidance. Begin by painting a tree on your paper. Make sure that your child uses plenty of paint so that the tissue apples will stick to the paint.


Next, Have your child rip the tissue paper into small pieces and then ball them up. (For younger children, it may help to rip the pieces for them and then let them crumple them into a tiny ball).

Press the crumpled tissue balls on the wet paint, all over the tree. Don't make the balls too big or they will not stick on to the paint.

Here is the two-year old version.

Here is the 5 year old version.

Fall Leaves

Book Ideas:

Look what I did with a leaf by Sohi

This unusual look at the natural world explains how to create fanciful animals from leaves.

Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

"When Leaf Man disappears in the wind one day, readers follow his trail 'past the chickens, toward the marsh, over the ducks and geese,' which are all amazingly configured from leaf collages too."

Mouse’s First Fall by Lauren Thompson
"One cool day Mouse and Minka venture out to play. From leaves of all colors -- red, yellow, orange, and brown -- to leaves of all shapes and sizes -- from pointy to round -- Mouse learns that fall is a season full of fun!"

Ruby’s Falling Leaves- Penguin Young Reader’s Group
"Ruby is trying to collect different types of leaves but all her little brother, Max, wants to do is jump in them."

Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson
"As summer ends, Fletcher, a young fox, begins to worry that his favorite tree is sick. Leaves turn brown and fall. Fletcher tries to catch and reattach them but is distressed as he is unable to save any. He takes the last leaf to bed with him, sad that his tree is left all on its own. The next morning, however, he discovers the tree covered with shining icicles, 'more beautiful than ever' ."

Leaves by David Ezra Stein
"It's a young bear's first autumn, and the falling leaves surprise and thrill him. At first he tries to put the leaves back on, but by spring he's learned about the tree's wondrous cycle."

Songs and Ryhmes:

The Leaves are falling Down (to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell")

The leaves are falling down

The leaves are falling down

School is here and fall in near

The leaves are falling down.
The leaves are falling down

The leaves are falling down

Some are red and some are brown

The leaves are falling down.
The leaves are falling down

The leaves are falling down

They tickle your nose and touch your toes

The leaves are falling down.

The Leaves of the Trees(to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus")

The leaves of the trees turn orange and red

orange and red, orange and red

The leaves of the trees turn orange and red

All through the town.
The leaves of the trees come tumbling down

tumbling down, tumbling down

The leaves of the trees come tumbling down

All through the town.
The leaves on the ground go swish, swish, swish

Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish,

The leaves on the ground go swish, swish, swish

All through the town.

Falling Leaves

All the leaves are falling down (flutter fingers downward)

Orange, green, red, and brown. (flutter fingers)

If you listen, you'll hear them say, (cup hands around ears)

"Wintertime is on it's way." (whispering)

Project Ideas:

#1: Thumb Print Leaves

Materials Needed:
-Brown paper for tree limb cut-out
-1 light colored piece of construction paper
-Red and Yellow Paint
-Scissors
-Glue
-paper plate
Cut out a simple tree trunk and tree limbs on the brown paper. Have your child glue it towards the bottom, middle of their blank paper. Squirt some red and yellow paint on the paper plate and then have your child mix a little of each together to make orange. Have your child dip their thumb into the paint and then press it onto their paper to make different colored “leaves” all over their tree.

My two year old had more fun swirling around the paint on her paper plate than actually making her picture. That is okay too. Remember it is about them exploring with their senses and being creative.

#2:Animal Leaf Collage

Collect a variety of fall leaves of different shapes, color, and sizes (This activity works better if you press the leaves flat with a heavy book for a day or two before doing this activity). If you don't live in a place that has all four seasons than cut out leaves from paper in various shapes and sizes and colors. Read and look through the books: "Leaf Man" or "Look what I did with a leaf" and try out some of the leaf animals featured in the book, or come up with your own.

Here are a few that we tried (Top: Turtle, mouse/Bottom: fish, butterfly, and leaf man)

This is a great project for the creative mind. I was so into it I wanted to do a few on my own. For younger children you will need to ask them what they want to make and talk it through with them, what they could use for a head or ears or feet etc....


#3:Autumn Wreaths
Collect Fall leaves, pinecones, berries, and twigs. Cut out the center of a paper plate and glue on your leaves and twigs etc...
#4:Leaf Mobile
Gather a variety of fall leaves. place them between two pieces of wax paper, making sure that you leave plenty of space between them so they don't touch each other. Iron over wax paper to fuse the two pieces together.
Cut around the wax paper


Using scissors, cut a spiral pattern in a piece of construction paper, starting from the outside edge and going in towards the middle.

Grab the center of the swirl and punch a hole in the end (this will be the top of the mobile). Tape your wax paper covered leaves on various spots of your spiraling paper. Tie a string through the hole at the top and hang your mobile.

#5: Leaf sorting

Gather various leaves or cut them out of paper, and sort them into categories.






#6: Jump in leaves

Have fun raking leaves into a pile and jumping in them.

More Halloween

Book Ideas:

Harriet’s Halloween Candy by Nancy Carlson
"Harriet learns the hard way that sharing her Halloween candy makes her feel much better than eating it all herself. "

Popcorn by Frank Asch
"Sam the bear decides to throw a Halloween party, and he dresses up in a costume and invites all of his bear friends over. Each friend has individually come up with the idea to bring a package of popcorn, and after having some fun at the party, someone gets the idea to pop all of the popcorn together in a big black kettle. The popcorn soon fills the house, and the young bears spend the rest of the night eating popcorn in order to fix the problem."

The Thirteen Hours of Halloween by Dian Curtis Regan
"An adaptation to the traditional song, 'The Twelve Days of Christmas,' to accommodate a creepy collection of characters. On the first hour of Halloween, a little girl's best friend presents her with a grinning 'vulture in a dead tree.' This dubious gift is followed, on the hour, by 'two pumpkins carved, three fat bats, four witches' cats,' and so on."

Night before Halloween by Natasha Wing
"A story in the style of the familiar poem, 'The Night Before Christmas,' tells how a house full of monsters, goblins, witches and the like prepare for Halloween."

Goodnight Goon, by Michael Rex
"Goodnight monsters everywhere, in this parody romp with its own special twist!
'Goodnight tomb. Goodnight goon. Goodnight Martians taking over the moon.'
It's bedtime in the cold gray tomb with a black lagoon, and two slimy claws, and a couple of jaws, and a skull and a shoe and a pot full of goo. But as a little werewolf settles down, in comes the Goon determined at all costs to run amok and not let any monster have his rest."

Boo Who?, Lift-the-flap knock-knock Book series by Katie Hall
"Bat you'll shriek with laughter at this fang-tastic collection of Halloween knock-knock jokes designed to tickle the funny bone. Lift the flaps and follow two trick-or-treaters through a haunted house as they encounter giggling ghosts and goofy goblins. You'll be scared silly!
Knock, knock!Who's there?Ben!Ben who?Ben waiting for Halloween all year!"

Songs and Rhymes:

THE TWELVE DAYS OF HALLOWEEN
At the first house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... a large piece of chocolate taffy
At the second house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... two lollipops and a large piece of chocolate taffy
At the third house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... three pralines, two lollipops, and large piece of chocolate taffy
At the fourth house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... four peppermints, three pralines, two lollipops and large piece of chocolate taffy
At the fifth house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... FIVE POPCORN BALLS!!! Four peppermints, three pralines, two lollipops and a large piece of chocolate taffy
At the sixth house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... six peanut clusters, FIVE POPCORN BALLS!!! Four peppermints, three pralines, two lollipops and a large piece of chocolate taffy
At the seventh house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... seven candied apples, six peanut clusters, FIVE POPCORN BALLS!!! Four peppermints, three pralines, two lollipops and a large piece of chocolate taffy
At the eighth house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... eight chewy caramels, seven candied apples, six peanut clusters, FIVE POPCORN BALLS!!! Four peppermints, three pralines, two lollipops and a large piece of chocolate taffy
At the ninth house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... nine orange gumdrops, eight chewy caramels, seven candied apples, six peanut clusters, FIVE POPCORN BALLS!!! Four peppermints, three pralines, two lollipops and a large piece of chocolate taffy
At the tenth house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... ten shiny pennies, nine orange gumdrops, eight chewy caramels, seven candied apples, six peanut clusters, FIVE POPCORN BALLS!!! Four peppermints, three pralines, two lollipops and a large piece of chocolate taffy
At the eleventh house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me...
eleven creamy nougats, ten shiny pennies, nine orange gumdrops, eight chewy caramels, seven candied apples, six peanut clusters, FIVE POPCORN BALLS!!! Four peppermints, three pralines, two lollipops and a large piece of chocolate taffy
At the twelfth house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... twelve cherry bonbons, eleven creamy nougats, ten shiny pennies, nine orange gumdrops, eight chewy caramels, seven candied apples, six peanut clusters, FIVE POPCORN BALLS!!! Four peppermints, three pralines, two lollipops and a large piece of chocolate taffy!

The Haunted House" (Tune of "Wheels on the Bus")
The ghost in the house goes "Boo! Boo! Boo!"

"Boo! Boo! Boo!, Boo! Boo! Boo!"

The ghost in the house goes "Boo! Boo! Boo!"

On Halloween.
The steps in the house goes "Creek, creek, creek..."

The cats in the house go "Meow, meow, meow..."

The mice in the house go "Squeak, squeak, squeak.."

The people in the house go "Eek, eek, eek...".

Sing A Song Of Halloween...
(Sing A Song Of Sixpence)
Sing a song of Halloween,
What a scary night,
Ghosts and bats and big black cats,
Give us all a fright.
Shining jolly Jack-O-Lanterns
Fill our hearts with fun,
But if the black witch comes along,
We'll all run!

Dress Up
A pretty princess wears a crown (form circle above head)

Bunny's ears flop up and down (place hands above head and move up & down)

A beautiful ballerina dances to and fro(dance)

A funny clown laughs "Ho, ho, ho".

2 green eyes shine from a cat(circle eyes)

A scary witch wears a pointy hat (form point with arms above head)

Jack-O-Lanterns shine so bright (form circle with arms)

Happy children on Halloween night!

Three Black Cats(sung to the tune of "three blind mice ")
Three black cats, three black cats,

In black hats, in black hats,

They all jumped into the Halloween brew.

They teased the ghosts & the goblins too!

Have you ever seen such a Hullabaloo??
On Halloween, On Halloween!

Activity Ideas:

Costume Sorting

Have your child cut out costumes out of the adds in the newspaper or in magazines. Then sort them into groups by similarities. (Examples could be: costumes that are scary/not scary, costumes for girls/boys or both, Superheroes/non superheroes, costumes with a hat/no hat, costumes with a mask/no mask etc...) You can sort them several times or just once and glue them on paper with a line down the middle to separate your groups.

Halloween Survey

Teach your child how to do a survey by asking family, friends, and neighbors which Halloween color they like best. (If you need to call grandma, or cousins to get enough people to survey). Teach them how to use tally marks or X's in each column to keep track of people's answers. Then count the tally marks or X's in each column and decide which has the most and which has the least.

Candy Sorting

After trick-or-treating have your child sort their candies into groups of candy with similarities. The similarities can be based on the color of the wrapping or chocolate or non chocolate, or hard candy vs. soft etc....Count which group has the most. It was fun to let my daughter group them first, without adding my input, because she grouped them differently than I would have; and so it gave me a chance to see her thinking and ask questions so she could explain her reasoning.

Pumpkins

Book Ideas:The Biggest Pumpkin Ever by Steven Kroll
"Once there were two mice who fell in love with the same pumpkin.... Desmond the field mouse wants to carve the biggest jack-o'-lantern in the neighborhood with his pumpkin. Clayton the house mouse wants to win the Biggest Pumpkin contest with his. But when they discover that their choice pumpkins are actually the same one, Desmond and Clayton decide to work together to grow the biggest pumpkin ever!"

Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman
"The witch has grown the biggest pumpkin ever, and now she wants to make herself a pumpkin pie for Halloween. But the pumpkin is so big she can't get it off the vine.
It's so big the ghost can't move it, either. Neither can the vampire, nor the mummy. It looks as if there'll be no pumpkin pie for Halloween, until along comes the bat with an idea to save the day."



The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis
"The Baxter brothers find a wonderful pumpkin for Halloween, but first they must catch up with it when it rolls down the hill."

Pumpkin Town! by Katie Mcky
"See what happens when a town has an accidental abundance of pumpkins."

Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper
"The Cat and the Squirrel come to blows with the Duck in arguing about who will perform what duty in preparing their pumpkin soup, and they almost lose the Duck's friendship when he decides to leave them."

Five Pesky Pumpkins by Marcia Vaughn
"Kids will delight as they open flaps to reveal five pesky pumpkins that disappear and pop-up on every page. As the text counts down from five, the pumpkins cause mischief on a spooky and scary night while readers practice counting."

Songs and Rhymes:

Mr. Pumpkin (tune: Where is thumpkin)

Mr. Pumpkin, Mr. Pumpkin,

Eyes so round, eyes so round

Halloween is coming, Halloween is coming

To my town, to my town.

Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Pumpkin, Pumpkin, sitting on the wall. Pumpkin, Pumpkin, tip and fall. Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Rolling down the street. Pumpkin, Pumpkin, good to eat!!

Pumpkin poem
One day I found two pumpkin seeds.

I planted one and pulled the weeds.

It sprouted roots and a big, long vine.

A pumpkin grew; I called it mine.

The pumpkin was quite round and fat.

(I really am quite proud of that.)

But there is something I'll admit

That has me worried just a bit.

I ate the other seed, you see.

Now will it grow inside of me?

(I'm so relieved since I have found

That pumpkins only grow in the ground!)

Pumpkin Song (tune: Have you ever seen a lassie?)
Have you ever seen a pumpkin, a pumpkin, a pumpkin,

Have you ever seen a pumpkin, that grows on a vine?

A round one, a tall one, a fat one, a small one.

Have you ever seen a pumpkin, that grows on a vine?

I Made A Jack-O-Lantern

I made a jack-o-lantern for Halloween night (form circle)

He has 3 crooked teeth but he wont bite (point to teeth and shake head)

He has 2 round eyes but cannot see (circle eyes)

He's a jolly jack-o-lantern as happy as can be.

Pumpkin, Pumpkin...
Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Sitting on a wall;
(have a child sit down)
Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Tip and Fall;
(have child tip over)
Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Rolling down the street;
(child rolls on floor)
Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Good to Eat!!!

Pumpkin, Pumpkin SONG (sung to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)
Pumpkin pumpkin on the ground

How'd you get so big and round

Planted as a seed so small

Now you are a great big ball

Pumpkin pumpkin on the ground

How'd you get so big and round

Big Orange Pumpkin(Sung to I’m a Little Tea Pot)

I'm a big orange pumpkin fat and round

Growin' by the corn field on the ground

I will be a Jack-o-lantern with two big eyes

Or maybe I'll be baked into two pumpkin pies.

FIVE LITTLE PUMPKINS
Five little pumpkins
Sitting on a gate
The first one said,
"Oh, my, it's getting late!"
The second one said,
"There are witches in the air!"
The third one said,
"We don’t care.”
The fourth one said,
"Let’s run and run and run!"
The fifth one said,
"I’m ready for some fun!"
OOOOOOOH, went the wind
And OUT went the lights
And the five little pumpkins rolled out
of sight.

Jack-o-lantern (sung to frere Jacques)
Jack-o-lantern, jack-o-lantern,
Burn so bright, burn so bright.

You are burning brightly, you are burning brightly,
Through the night, through the night.

Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater

Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater
Had a wife and couldn't keep her.
He put her in a pumpkin shell
And there he kept her very well

Activity Ideas:

Pumpkin Ordering

Make a set of different sized pumpkins. Mix them up and have your child put them in order from smallest to largest and largest to smallest. You can also write numerals or ordinal numbers on them to practice additional skills.

Pumpkin Patterns

Find clip art of a pumpkin . Then save the image and insert it into a word document and make it smaller by dragging the image. Copy and paste it multiple times, making a row of pumpkins and print. Then I colored the pumpkins into a pattern leaving the last one empty. Have your child color in the last pumpkin to finish the pattern.

Pumpkin Growth Sequence

Cut out printable cards of the pumpkin plant cycle. Mix up the cards and have your child put the sequence in the right order. Asking them "What comes first?" "Then what?" etc.. Have them color each card and staple it into a book.

Jack-0-lantern Memory Game

Cut out 18 orange pumpkin shapes. Draw 9 different jack-o-lantern faces, making two of each face. Glue them on cardstock squares and play memory--trying to find two identical faces for a match.

Paper Plate Jack-o-lantern

Paint a paper plate orange, in advance. Let your child decorate their own jack-o-lantern face, using dried beans or paper cut-outs etc...

Pumpkin Stamping

Cut one miniature pumpkin in half. Let your child dip it in paint and use it to do real pumpkin stamping.